Subject: Nick Gaitan

• Bring Back the Jams!

  July 27, 2006

• From the Barrio to Billy Joe: A Former Skarnal Signs Up with the Ol’ Chunk o’ Coal

  October 16, 2007

• Thursday Night: Umbrella Man at the Big Top

  April 8, 2008

• Noise Extra: "I've Found My Weakness in You" and Billy Joe Shaver on Houston

  In this week's installment of Noise, Rocks Off's bass-playing friend and neighbor Nick Gaitan talks about how our building inspired his song "I've Found My Weakness in You," and how his boss Billy Joe Shaver liked it so much he decided to record it. Part of our conversation veered into Shaver's experiences in the Bayou City, but first, the song... Rocks Off: I was wondering how much time he's spent here. Nick Gaitan (smiles): He's always talking about how rough it is. RO: What does he say ab

  January 14, 2009

• SXSW: Scott Miller

  Photo by clared23 "I've been drunk all around this town, from the downside up to the upside down...." So sings Scott Miller in "Drunk All Around this Town," which he calls "the most beautiful ballad I have ever written." That might not be true but it is a most apropos song for SXSW, and it never sounded better than it did Thursday night at Waterloo Ice House. Like John Prine, Miller is not just a funny songwriter, although can be one of the most humorous out there. He can also come up with line

  March 23, 2009

• Bam, It's Kam!

  March 12, 2009

• Houston's Most Unique Address

  January 15, 2009

• The Return of the Kashmere Stage band

  February 7, 2008

• High Spirits

  The haunted (or is it?) history of 3700 Main

  October 25, 2007

• Houston Press Music Awards Winners

  Devin the Dude, Katie Stuckey and The Dimes clean up

  August 9, 2007

• 2007 Houston Press Music Awards Showcase

  July 26, 2007

• Hot Sounds, Summer in the City

  A few local discs to sizzle with

  June 21, 2007

• SoundExchange Wants to Kill Internet Radio

  On "lost" artists, found money and the murder of free enterprise

  May 17, 2007

• Houston Radio Still Sucks

  David Sadof shares his dream station with Racket

  May 10, 2007

• No Más for the Vatos Rudos

  Los Skarnales go the way of all flesh

  November 9, 2006

• The Orange Show

  Spain Colored Orange takes home four Press Music Awards

  August 10, 2006

• More Fun than a Barrel of Monkeys

  Dispatches from the 17th annual Houston Press Music Awards

  August 3, 2006

• Houston Band Cartography

  The launch of our blog brings forth a quixotic attempt toward a local music atlas

  July 6, 2006

• 2006 Houston Press Music Awards Supplement

  July 27, 2006

• Houston's Gone Gaaga for Haaga

  August 4, 2005

• Los Skarnales

  Pachuco Boogie Sound System

  April 7, 2005

• ¡Viva H-town!

  Latinos come to the fore in this year's music awards

  August 5, 2004

• The 2009 Houston Press Music Award Nominees

  Here they are, folks. You nominated 'em, we mulled 'em over and sorted out the stuffers, and now the 2009 Houston Press Music Awards ballot is set. Normally Rocks Off would say something cute like read 'em and weep, but since we've been listening to almost nothing but '80s hard rock and new bands that totally sound like '80s hard rock (Low Man's Joe, The Answer, Charm City Devils) for the past couple of days, we'll just say this: Eat 'em and smile. Just kidding. We know this is serious stuff, an

  May 21, 2009

• Houston Press Music Awards: And The Nominees Are...

  Here they are, folks. You nominated 'em, we mulled 'em over and sorted out the stuffers, and now the 2009 Houston Press Music Awards ballot is set. Normally Rocks Off would say something cute like read 'em and weep, but since we've been listening to almost nothing but '80s hard rock and new bands that totally sound like '80s hard rock (Low Man's Joe, The Answer, Charm City Devils) for the past couple of days, we'll just say this: Eat 'em and smile. Just kidding. We know this is serious stuff, a

  May 21, 2009

• Running the Numbers

  May 28, 2009

• 52 Pick-Up

  July 23, 2009

• ReFried Rice: In the Hot Seat with Nick Gaitan

  ​We're here with Nick Gaitan from Umbrella Man. He's up first in the Hot Seat.Who are you going to see today?Ryan Scroggins. Want to watch Sean Reefer, but we're playing at the same time. And by buddy Jack, we're up against each other for Best Bassist. BUH BUH BUM! (Says in doomy singing voice).I wanted to see the Wild Moccasins but they aren't playing. The TonTons. I'm going to see Sideshow. I'm going to miss Skeleton Dicks. Bunny Rogers from that band recorded the last Skarnales album, Ryan

  July 26, 2009

• HPMA Aftermath: Born Liars, Ryan Scroggins and the Trenchtown Texans, B L A C K I E, Metavenge and Buxton

  Photos by Craig Hlavaty​This member of Rocks Off has never felt so proud of his city, especially after last night's Houston Press Music Awards showcase. He was wont to call it "his" city just a few years back, commuting back and forth into the Inner-Loop breach to review show after show from the suburbs down Highway 288. He had always felt that he perhaps wasn't quite getting what was going on, or that he just wasn't built for it. But Sunday, as we walked down the streets of downtown and saw r

  July 27, 2009

• MP3 of the Day: Umbrella Man

  John Powers​ For the cultish followers of JFK Assassination lore, the "Umbrella Man" was a shadowy figure along the parade route in Dallas. The character's story purports that he either was involved in the killing of President Kennedy by using his umbrella to signal the shooters to fire - or even stranger, that he shot a poison dart from the umbrella that immobilized the president. Thankfully, Nick Gaitan's Umbrella Man doesn't traffic in conspiracy theories, either lyrically or musically. Wh

  July 28, 2009

• HPMA: Guess What? More Winners: Sideshow Tramps, Homopolice & A Dream Asleep, DJ Sun

  Chris Gray​ Well, Little Joe didn't sit in with the Flamin' Hellcats, but Scarface sure did. Dude's got some serious Chuck Berry mojo going on. Who knew?Best Tribute Band: Beetle. Thanking a multitude of Houston music royalty. Beetle really is a sight to behold, and about a minute fraction of the cost of a McCartney ticket.Best Bassist: Chris Applegate from indie-poppers Mechanical Boy. Mild-mannered as hell, he thanks Nick Gaitan for being the better bassist...Best Jazz: Free Radicals Where

  July 30, 2009

• Houston Music Fight Club: Brett Koshkin vs. Ceeplus Bad Knives, Late Nite Pie vs. Mai's, Nick Gaitan vs. ???

  ​This week brings three new bouts and a special announcement to all past winners and losers of our imaginary brawls on Houston Music Fight Club. Next Tuesday, Rocks Off is presenting David Fincher's Fight Club at our (mostly) weekly Movie Nite at the Mink. We would like all past winners and losers to attend this lovely screening of the most controversial movie of 1999 that didn't involve footage shot on a shaky Handicam, a dead Bruce Willis or Kevin Spacey jacking off in the shower. Pickings a

  September 16, 2009

• Honky-Tonk Revival

  November 19, 2009

• Houston 101: Sig Byrd, Houston's King of True-Life Noir

  ​Of all the columnists in the history of Houston journalism, Sigman Byrd was easily the darkest and the most literary. From the late 1940s to the early '60s, Byrd wrote a column called The Stroller for the old daily Houston Press and later, briefly for the Chronicle. He always much favored the city's dark shadows, scruffy neighborhoods, and forgotten, often wrecked people over the big affairs of the day and Houston's high and mighty.As David Theis put it in his 1994 remembrance : Byrd ranged

  November 20, 2009